Little Red Riding Hood
by RedVoid
Summary: At each step she took, Red felt the pain in her head intensify. The howling grew louder in her ears. And she could no longer make out the shapes of the trees around her; all she could see were black and white blurs. And messages that she now could read oh-so clearly as if the slender man's victims were whispering them in her ears. (Red Riding Hood as you never seen before)


**Well, this is a little something that has been on my mind since I first played Slender. An AU cross-over between this creepy monster and our adorable Red Riding Hood.**

**Please, have in mind that this is my first attempt at writing a horror story. So, reviews (any kind; yes, even flames) will be extremely cherished as a way for me to get better at it. :)**

**Oh, also, english is my second language so please forgive any mistakes.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Slenderman. And, obviously, I don't own the Little Red Riding Hood story or its characters.**

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><p>"<em>Whatever you do, do not go off the path and into the forest. Wolves wander those dark and cold woods."<em>

That's what Red Riding Hood was always told by the people in the village. They were always worried with the not-quite-as-young teenage girl, who was always walking to her grandmother's house with a basketful of baked goods in her hands.

When she was a child, Red never failed to listen to their counsels and warnings; she always followed the path. The villagers' warnings scared her to the point that she didn't dare to walk anywhere but on the centre of the earth road that encircled the haunted woods. Whenever a wagon had to pass, the little girl would wait patiently by the road's side before going back to its centre and, just then, resume her walk to her grandmother's home. She didn't take one step forwards unless she was on that safe haven that was the centre of the road.

But Red Riding Hood wasn't a little child anymore. At the wise age of sixteen, she judged herself a grown woman, perfectly capable of walking straight through the forest to her grandmother's home, instead of circling its whole perimeter. It would save precious minutes of her day and, surely, she could take care of whatever creature inhabited those woods.

"_Don't wander into those woods, sweet girl. They are haunted. They will kill you."_

Nonsense. A forest was nothing more than lots of trees close together and she was _not_ afraid of trees.

"_The Big Bad Wolf will tear your throat open, my child. Don't wander from the path."_

Ridiculous. Wolves hunted at night and it was in the middle of the day. Also, the village had never been attacked by them. Surely, _if _there were any wolves living in those woods, they'd have attacked the village already. There was nothing to be afraid of.

And what did they know about that forest anyway? Those woods hadn't been touched for the last 100 years. Not even the village's Huntsman dared to go into its territory.

Jaw clenched, eyes narrowed and shoulders squared, Red Riding Hood marched into the forest, leaving her safe haven behind without a second glance.

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><p>Naturally, she was right.<p>

The villagers were nothing more than a bunch of ignorant, scared cats that knew nothing about the forest and, exactly because they knew nothing of it, feared its inhabitants with an irrational passion.

And, truly, their fear was completely devoid of reason. The dark woods were bathed by bright and warm sunlight. Their coldness was nothing more than a refreshing breeze that would come to fight off the heat. Their curse could only be the birds singing. And the Big Bad Wolf was nothing more than a fallen, wolf-shaped tree-trunk that must've been there for the last 100 years, judging by how much moss covered its surface.

And so, with a cocky smile on her face, Red Riding Hood started to walk towards her grandma's home. There was a skip in her steps and a song on her lips as the girl took in her surroundings with pleased awe; the flying birds, the green leaves, the refreshing shadows, the-

Suddenly, Red halted her steps and blinked, trying to organize her thoughts. She could swear there was something written on that tree over there…

Quickly, the girl walked to examine the offending tree and she felt her eyes widen almost immediately. There _was_ indeed something written on its thick trunk, and it was written in a brownish paint that was awfully like-

-_dried blood._

Red gulped as she struggled to make sense of the bold and clumsy letters she found, cursing herself for not paying more attention to the reading lessons her mother forced upon her.

_H-E-L… HELP… M-E… ME… HELP ME?_

Little Red Riding Hood felt something cold grab at her throat. Memories of all the dark stories she had heard about these woods sprung to life inside her mind, painting a clear image of fear and helplessness that left the girl breathing hard while her heart tightened painfully beneath her chest.

A snapping sound and a light breeze was all it took for the girl to let out a scream as her body dropped to the ground in a crouching position, hands raised in front of her face in a defensive manner. Her eyes were tightly shut, as if by blocking the image of her surroundings, she could block whatever danger that came with it.

…

Nothing happened. Nothing touched her.

Slowly, Red Riding Hood opened her eyes, peaking at her surrounding from the gap between her fingers. What she found was nothing more than a wild rabbit, staring at her with its brown little head tilted to the side, as if to ask what in the world she was doing.

With a nervous chuckle, Red stood up on her shaky legs, convincing herself that there was nothing to be afraid of in the beautiful and warm forest she was in; that the words on the wood were nothing more than a bad-taste joke, made by some of the village's brats.

Telling herself that she was safe, Red grabbed her basket from the floor and continued to walk. She was no longer singing.

Another message caught her eye - written in dried blood, just like the first one - but Red ignored it completely.

For about ten steps.

With an angry sigh, Red Riding Hood turned around and stalked back to the second message. A couple of minutes went by before she could decipher the words' meanings.

DON'T LOOK… OR IT TAKES YOU

Red scowled and turned around, ready to resume – and finish – her walk to her grandmother's house, but another message caught her eye.

FOLLOWS

That word, foreboding in its essence, was accompanied by the drawing of a tall and slender man with no face.

A sharp pain spiked up Red's head, making her shut her eyes for a second. When she re-opened them, she found the man staring back at her.

Little Red froze; the man she saw was not the one drawn on the tree trunk. The slender man was very much real, standing many feet in front of her with half of his body hidden behind another tree.

He had no eyes, but he was staring at her.

The pain in her head intensified. The sound of birds chirping started to fade as a desperate howling took its place. The warm and cheerful sunlight started to darken as her wide, wide eyes lost focus of reality. Red felt death crawling up her knees and looked own. A tentacle, black and slimy, was crawling up her legs ever so slowly.

Never blinking, the girl's eyes returned to the place where the man was, but found nothing more than his innocent tree there.

A tall and slender shadow fell over Red Riding Hood and she let her basket fall to the ground once again.

And she ran.

At each step she took, Red felt the pain in her head intensify. The howling grew louder in her ears. And she could no longer make out the shapes of the trees around her; all she could see were black and white blurs. And messages, messages that she now could read oh-so clearly as if the slender man's victims were whispering them in her ears.

ALWAYS WATCHES. NO EYES

LEAVE ME ALONE

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

Tears fell freely from the girl's desperate eyes. Tears from fear and tears from pain. Tears that were the only reminder that she was alive.

She could no longer see, or hear or feel her surroundings. All she could feel was the man's breath on her neck; he was there, right behind her, ready to extend one of his slender hands and encircle her frail little neck. Still, Red Riding Hood kept running and running, desperately searching for the earth road on the outskirts of the forest; her safe haven.

A lone beam of light appeared in front of the girl's eyes and she knew she was close; all she had to do was take a few more steps. She could practically taste the safety of her earth road. Smiling in relief, Red Riding Hood turned around, confident that the slender man was many feet behind her.

His face was inches in front of hers.

A blood-curling scream left Little Red's lips as she fell down, hitting her backside on the ground hard and painfully. She screamed and screamed and crawled backwards, away from the man.

Next thing she knew, Red was inside a hollow tree, curled up in herself, bawling like a starving baby. Her eyes were shut once again, but she could still see the man's faceless semblance. Her fists were pressed tightly over her ears, but she still heard deafening and deseperate howling sounds. And her head hurt. It hurt _so much,_ Red believed she would never be able to feel anything aside from that pain ever again.

She was wrong.

She could also feel tentacles climbing up her legs, reaching up her knees, then her tights, closing around her waist and still going up. Up to her armpits. Up to her neck.

The tentacles tightened and tightened and-

Laughter. Children's laughter.

The cheerful sound dig through the heart-wrenching howling like a dagger and, suddenly, it all disappeared. The tentacles, the howling, the slender man's image, the _pain… _Just like that, it was all gone.

Sniffing, Red Riding Hood opened her eyes. In front of her, outside of her hollow tree-trunk, she could see the warm and orange beams of light that indicated the beginning of dusk. The girl listened to cockroaches walking up and down the tree-trunk surrounding her, she felt worms climbing up her body and she smelled the acid stench of urine permeating her clothes. And she smiled.

Smiled and ran. Ran out of that hollow tree-trunk and out of that dark, dark forest. She ran to the middle of the earth road and kissed the ground.

For hours, Red Riding Hood stood there, lying down on the middle of the road, lips glued to the dirt. She didn't dare to move, she didn't _want_ to move; there – on the middle of the path - she was safe.

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><p>"<em>Poor girl. Look at her state; it has been four days already and she hasn't even moved from her bedroom. Her mother says she's barely even eating anymore."<em>

"_She brought it upon herself, if you ask me. We told her not to wander into those woods. She was lucky the Huntsman tfound her on the road and brought her back."_

"_Yes; she was very lucky. Unlike the Angelfield twins. Poor children followed her into the forest and never came back. New victims of the Slenderman."_

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><p>It took Little Red Riding Hood exactly 40 days to recover from her terrifying experience in the forest and leave her house. And another 40 days to finally give in to her mother's demands and go back to visit her grandmother.<p>

She felt like a little kid again, walking on the exact centre of the earth road just like she was told so many times before, but she didn't mind. As long as she was there, she was safe.

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><p>"Nana! I'm here!" Red called as she opened the small house's door. "I brought some of Mama's cakes for you!"<p>

Red waited for a couple of minutes, but no answer came; her grandma must've been napping. With a sigh, the girl walked into the little house and put her basket on the kitchen's table before turning to walk to the bedroom.

The house was eerily dark, Red noted as she made her way through a narrow, L-shaped corridor. She couldn't keep her heart from speeding up.

_It's alright. I'm safe. I'm out of the woods. I-_

CAN'T RUN

As she read the words, painted on the wall in fresh, crimson blood – _Nana's blood… - _Little Red felt her heart stop beating altogether, as if preparing itself for the death that was sure to come.

Slowly, the girl turned around.

There he was. Tall. Faceless. Slender. Staring at her.

Little Red Riding Hood opened her mouth to scream.

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><p><strong>Aaaaand, that's it. Hope you enjoyed it. :)<strong>

**Kisses,**

**RedVoid**


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